Improvement in car-brakes



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AMOS W. FILER AND LLEWELLYN T. HATFIELD, OF DANBY, ILLINOIS; SAID HATFIELD ASSIGNOR TO SAID FILER. Y

IMPROVEMENT IN CAR-BRAKES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 118,443, dated August 29, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, AMos W. FTLER and LLEWELLYN T. HATFJELD, of Danby, in the county of Du Page and State of Illinois, have invented an Improved Mechanism for Operating Gar-Brakes; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof,

bow-lever.

The present invention relates to an improvement in that kind of mechanism which is used in operating the brakes of railroad cars by power derived from the drive-wheels; and its nature, in part, consists in levers, a movable weight and spring, so arranged that when a certain degree of pressure is brought against the Wheels of the car-trucks a pinion will be thrown out of gear with a pinion on the axle of the drive-Wheels, and thus slacken the connecting-rod and relieve the car-wheels of the brakes; and further, in combination with the foregoing, a clutch-wheel, so arranged that the brakes may be held firmly to the wheels when a train is moving in either direction.

A L represent the drive-wheels and axle of an ordinary locomotive, which are made to support, by means of bearings Vb b, Fig. 3, a substantial iron frame, of such size as will not interfere with a boiler above. No novelty is claimed in relation to this frame, nor the means of holding it in place on the axle, it being one of several forms which might be used to support the working parts of our device. M, Figs. 1 and 3, represents a shaft, one end of which rotates in a depending standard, Z, Fig. 1, rigidly attached to the under side of the frame, shown at Z, Figs. l, 2, and 3, and the other end in a horizontal slot formedV in a depending standard, W Y, Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, which is rigidly attached to the under side of the frame shown at Z, the slot Y being long enough to allow the pinion S to be put out of gear with the pinion T. The pinion S is attached to the shaftM and driven by the pinion T, which is attached to the axle L. The elbowlever G, Figs, 2, 3, and 5, is pivoted to the depending standard W, attached to the frame Z, and the shorter or more verticalpart bears against the shaft M, and the longer end is pivoted to a spring-catch, H, which locks under a weighted lever, D, and also pivoted to a vertical bar, I, which extends through the frame Z, and is used by the engine to bring the spring-catch Hunder the lever D. This lever D is pivoted to a depending support, C, rigidly attached to the frame Z, and its opposite end operates in a slotted depending guide, F, attached to the frame Z, and it is provided with notches p p, &c., from either of' which a weight, E, may be suspended.

The operation. of these parts is as follows: To put the pinions S T in gear, as shown at Fig. 3, the engineer must force the spring-catch H downward; this will force the short arm of the lever Gr against the shaft M, and also bring the springcatch under the weighted lever D, which will then hold the wheels in gear without further attention. The shaft M, during the time in which the pinions are in gear, rotates, and consequently winds up a chain, T, Figs. 1, 2, and 3, which is attached to the levers of the brake.

It is now evident that, if the operator neglects to throw the pinion out of gear and the shaftM continues to wind up the chain r after the brakes have been properly set, some part of the mechanism must give way. This is prevented by the following means: The rope or chain r, winding up, will draw the shaft M forward against the short arm of the lever G, and consequently raise the catch H and lever D, and also push the pinion S out of gear. The power which the rope or chain 1' is to exert upon the brakes before this automatic movement is regula-ted by moving the weight E to or from the guide F.

To hold the brakes with the proper force against v the truck-wheels after the pinions S and T have been thrown outof gear we use the following devices: A ratchet drum, R, Figs. 1 and 3, is attached to the shaft M, and locked by either of the two depending racks O, according to the direction in which the shaft M is rotating. These racks are rigidly attached to a frame, K, which is made to have a reciprocating movement in depending standards fn n, attached to the frame Z. A lever, J, Fig. 1, being pivoted to the bar K and to frame Z, Fig. l, extends up to Within reach of the operator, and when the bar K is held in a Xed position the upper end of said leverisloeked into notches in the edge of a curved plate, g, attached to the top of the frame Z.

claim- The combination of the double ratchet-Wheel R, racks O, sliding frame K, lever J, shaft M,

pinons S T, elbow-lever G, slotted frame W Y, spring-catch H, bar I, and Weighted lever D, as and. for the purpose set forth.

AMOS W. FILER. LLEWELLYN T. HATFIELD. Witnesses:

E. E. GIBSON, G. L. CHAPIN. 

